Hidden in the Dark (A Danti Beauty and the Beast AU)
by Lielie96
Summary: Every small town has its rumors, its local legends. For one small little town on the country side it's that the old abandoned castle in the woods is haunted. They say those that go in are trapped inside like the souls trapped in the castle. And as Anti finds out, they aren't entirely wrong. However, it was always failed to mention just what exactly haunts this castle...
1. How did we get here?

Every small town has has its own rumors, its own legends. For one small town in particular, it revolved around the old abandoned castle in the who had ever lived there had heard about the castle but none dared go near it. Many claim it was once owned by a selfish monarch who tortured his people, while others say it was simply built but never lived /There were many different variations to the story of who or what once owned the building, but everyone could agree that the old castle and the land it sat on was haunted. It was rumored that the souls of those that once worked there were trapped there. They say that those souls attack any living being that dare wonder onto the property, that anyone who ventured near were never seen again. It was what everyone believed.

Everyone that is, except one man. If you were lucky enough to be at the town's only pub on a certain day, at a certain time, you'd be able to find the town's resident old drunkard. Strangely enough, nobody in the town knew much about him, other than he was thought to be rather crazy. He'd talk endlessly to any person who had the unfortunate luck of wondering near him, spew nonsense about various things. In his drunken stupor, he'd claim he was the original owner of the castle, despite the building being hundreds of years old. He'd go on and on about magic being real, even claiming to be a powerful sorcerer. Needless to say, not a single person believed him.

On one particular night, the old man was telling his stories to any poor soul that wondered too close. Unfortunately, Chase and his brother were such souls. They endured the story, having heard it all before. Until Marvin interrupted that is.  
"If you really did live there, then surely you know what it is that keeps people away," the masked man asked partly out of curiosity and partly to hopefully shut the old fool.  
The old man paused his story. He took his time to answer as though making it up on the spot. "It's a demon," he finally answered. "Created the thing myself to punish those who'd done me wrong.  
Thankfully, before more could be said Chase stood up. He pretended to look at his watch, "Oh, would you look at the time? We best be getting home before Schneep has a fit."  
Marvin looked at his brother for a moment before catching on on the lie. "Yes, yes. You're right." He stood up and looked back at the old man. "It was a pleasure hearing your story, Mister. But we really must be going."  
The old man waved his hand, shooing the two off. "Yeah, yeah. No-one ever believes me anyone. Begone with ya."

The two brothers left the pub, heading home. They spoke about what the old man had said and had begun formulating what would have been a harmless little prank to pull on their youngest brother, Robbie.

All they needed was for the youngest to believe the legends. After all, it was only a legend. How can any of it be true?

**But all legends have some basis in truth...**


	2. Dares

"What about the ghosts?"  
Chase and Marvin had managed to rope their two of their brothers into doing dares with them. Despite the cold weather, they played outside on the outskirts of the woods. After a few rounds, Chase had dared the youngest of the family to into the old castle. Naturally, Robbie was a little apprehensive at the idea.  
"Ghosts aren't real, Robbie," Marvin tried convincing the youngest. "You've got nothing to fear."  
"Yeah," Chase agreed. "Besides, all you've got to do is go in and bring something to prove you were actually in there."

Robbie didn't seem to believe them, looking over at Anti. Anti and Robbie were as close as brothers could be, thick as thieves. It didn't surprise anyone the younger would look to Anti for advice.  
Anti simply shrugged. "It's up to you, Robster." When the youngest still looked at a lost for what to do, he continued, "How about this; you run in and grab something and if you don't come out in like ten minutes, we'll break down the building and get you out? Okay?"  
"You'll fight off the ghosts for me?"  
"I'll personally punch a ghost for you."  
Anti couldn't help but smile at the sudden confidence that came to settle on Robbie's face in that moment.

* * *

Robbie entered the castle grounds, leaving his older brothers at the rusting gates. That confidence he found was slowly draining out of him as he approached the castle doors.  
He pushed the doors open, eyes glancing around the large empty entrance. He just wanted to find the first item he could and run out the place again. The castle was eerily quiet as the young boy slowly made his way further into the building.

The first room he had gone into was empty, save for furniture and a statue too large for Robbie to move let alone take back to his brothers. The door in the room opened up to the castle's throne room. Two thrones sat on the end opposite to Robbie. He slowly inched into the room, still completely on edge. It was only when he had crossed the halfway mark of the room that he finally saw what he was looking for. Settled against the larger throne, stood a cane. He hurried and quickly grabbed the cane before turning on his heel and running out the room, determined to get out the castle as quickly as possible.

That was when he heard it. The voices. Robbie had stopped dead in his tracks in the room he had gone into first, frozen in fear. He couldn't make out what the voices were saying, but they sounded close.  
Just as he had finally gotten the courage to keep moving and run, the voices stopped. Well, more accurately they were drowned out by the sounds of loud ringing. The ringing was so loud and so intense that it hurt the poor boy's ears. He dropped the cane in favour of covering his ears.  
He had lost his bearings in the suddenness of the ringing that he had to look around for the door. His eyes did a quick sweep to look for it, but he almost wished he hadn't.

Robbie found himself paralysed on the spot in fear from what he was seeing. The statue in the room was stalking towards him. And it looked pissed…


	3. The Castle's Master

"We should go looking for him."  
"You worry too much, Anti. I mean it's Robbie. Kid can't even hurt a fly."  
Anti rolled his eyes at his brother. "It's been nearly an hour, Chase. I promised him ten minutes…"  
Chase simply shrugged. "He probably got spooked by a rat or something and got lost. It's not like he's in any actual danger or anything."  
"Fine, whatever. You two can leave. But I'm going in to look for him."br /Without another word to Chase or Marvin, Anti trudged towards the castle doors.

The two brothers left, but had they stayed they might have noticed the shadows and figures moving in the castle windows at Anti's arrival.

* * *

Dust and silence greeted Anti once the doors were shut behind him.  
Stepping further inside, he called out to his younger brother, "Robbie?"

When no answer came, Anti moved in further through the castle floor. He looked around for any trace of his brother but found none.  
Robbie?" He called out again, now reaching the throne room near the centre of the castle's ground floor.  
That was when he heard it. It coming from further in the castle, so soft he nearly missed it. "Anti?"

Anti ran off in the direction he heard his name come from. He found himself in the old castle's dungeon tower. There at near the top, the last cell was Robbie.  
The two brothers hugged each other through the cell bars.  
"Robbie, I was so worried about you. We have to get you out of here. This wasn't a very nice trick to pull."  
The purple haired boy seemed to be in a bit of a panic. "No, no. No trick. Anti leave. He'll get you."

Before Anti could ask what his young brother meant, a harsh ringing sound filled his ears. The sound seemed to reverberated throughout the tower. Anti was surprised he was still able to hear the voice from the figure in the darkness over it.

**"Get out!"** Anti could have sworn the figure's voice echoed naturally but he wrote it off as just being a side effect of the tower's cramped space.  
Before Anti, himself could figure out what he was doing, he was on his feet, baring his teeth at the new comer. "Not without him," the green haired boy pointed at his younger brother.  
**"He is being made an example of for trespassing. I should do the same with you, but you may leave to pass on the message."  
**Anti physically snarled at the figure, something he's never done in his life before.  
The figure returned the sound, coming closer, but still staying outside Anti's range of visibility. **"Do not test me boy. I will make you regret it"**

A tug at his pants stopped Anti from passing a snarky remark as he looked down at his younger brother. "Just go. I'll be fine," came the younger's small, weak voice.  
It was in that moment that Anti made up his mind. His head snapped up to the figure once more. "Make an example of me. Let him go and be your messenger."

The figure remained silent, caught off guard by the boy's words. Robbie protested next to him, but Anti remained focused on the figure, awaiting his response.  
After what felt like eternity to Anti, a simple **"Deal"** broke the silence in his mind. At the same time, the figure stepped into the light. He'd look much like a walking corpse with his grey skin and dark eyes. However, Anti's eyes were quickly drawn to the two large horns on the figure's head and the devilish tail behind him. It took Anti's mind too long to comprehend what he was looking at was the Demon of the Castle in the flesh.

Fear gripped Anti, numbing him to everything around him. He didn't notice the demon unlocking Robbie's cell and dragging him out nor did he notice when he was shoved inside and the door locked. He only snapped out of it long enough to hear his brother call for him one last time, before the large doors of the castle were shut once more.

**A/N: I've finally had the time to update! And Dark's finally arrived and made himself known!**


End file.
